Simon Winder Books

Following on from Danubia and the bestselling Germania, Lotharingia is the final instalment in Simon Winder's hilarious and informative personal exploration of European history.

«Gut gelaunt und geistreich.» Frankfurter Rundschau Kaum ein Engländer betritt freiwillig deutschen Boden, ohne dafür berufliche Gründe zu haben. Ein Fehler, meint Simon Winder. Er selbst ist regelrecht besessen von Deutschland. So nimmt er uns mit auf eine höchst unterhaltsame Reise durch unser Land und dessen Vergangenheit. Nebenbei stopft er Bildungslücken, von denen Sie nicht einmal wussten, dass Sie sie hatten. «Simon Winder ist der Erste, dem es gelingt zu zeigen, dass Deutschland nicht weniger Spaß macht als Frankreich oder Italien.» Evening Standard «Herrlich – voll amüsanter Einsichten in die deutsche Geschichte und Kultur.» Ian Kershaw «Lehrreich und unterhaltsam!» ARD Morgenmagazin

'Lotharingia' is the third installment in Simon Winder's personal history of Europe. In 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany and the third received the piece in between: Lotharingia. 'Lotharingia' is a history of in-between Europe. It is the story of a place between places. In this beguiling, hilarious and compelling book, Simon Winder retraces the various powers that have tried to overtake the land that stretches from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps and the might of the peoples who have lived there for centuries.

Danubia is the brilliant and entertaining companion to the Sunday Times top ten bestseller Germania. It was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2013.

Following on from Danubia and the bestselling Germania, Lotharingia is the final instalment in Simon Winder's hilarious and informative personal exploration of European history.

The narrative delves into the creation of James Bond as a cultural icon, reflecting the psyche of post-World War II Britain grappling with its diminished status. Simon Winder examines the complexities of Bond's character and the world he inhabits, touching on themes such as sexuality, class, and British-American relations. Through a personal lens of fandom, the book offers a humorous yet poignant commentary on how Bond embodies the aspirations and anxieties of a nation seeking to reclaim its identity and grandeur.

Germania is propelled by a wish to reclaim the brilliant, chaotic, endlessly varied German civilization that the Nazis buried and ruined, and that, since 1945, so many Germans have worked to rebuild. A very funny book on serious topics---how we are misled by history, how we twist history, and how sometimes it is best to know no history at all. It is a book full of curiosities: odd food, castles, mad princes, fairy tales, and horse-mating videos. It is about the limits of language, the meaning of culture, and the pleasure of townscape, and "a book you will return to time and again" (The Florida Times-Union).

Simon Winder is mesmerized by Germany; its cuisine, its architecture, its fairytale landscape.

A hilarious blend of cultural history, biography and memoir from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Germania

s/t: An Anthology from the Fiction of Ian Fleming This book celebrates the greatest of all postwar British fictional icons. For too long the Bond films have overshadowed their literary source - the bizarre, baroque world of Ian Fleming. Full rein is given in this anthology to Fleming's wonderful creations - the deranged villains, their horrifying associates and their surreal lairs; from Dr. No's guano island to Blofeld's Garden of Death. Full attention to is paid to the girls, cars, food, drink and cigarettes consumed by the books' brutal, resourceful hero. From the first Bond novel, "Casino Royale" to the last to be fully finished, "You Only Live Twice", there is an extraordinary zest and ingenuity to Fleming's imagination and "My Name's Bond..." allows readers to see perhaps as never before the author's remarkable abilities. He was, above all, a creator of great set pieces and it is these that are surely at the root of the films' great and lasting success.